“Today we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. As a result we do not have sufficient strength to find a comprehensive solution to any one of these conflicts. Finding a political settlement also becomes impossible. We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law. And independent legal norms are, as a matter of fact, coming increasingly closer to one state’s legal system. One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.”
- President Vladimir Putin at the Munich Conference on Security Policy (February 11, 2007)
"As soon as one side comes under the illusion that it is invulnerable to a strike from the other, there immediately arise both a number of conflicts and aggression... Not because America is by definition an aggressive country, but because it is a fact of life. There is no way around it. And this worries us." - Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin during a nationwide televised interview in Moscow (March 2, 2012)In my opinion, the historic comments made by Vladimir Putin at the Munich Conference back in early 2007 signaled the official commencement of Moscow's reemergence as a global leader and its belligerence towards the political West. And Vladimir Putin's comment made on nationwide Russian television in early 2012 signaled that Moscow's belligerence will surely continue for the rest of this decade. Nevertheless, ever since those powerful words were resonated around the world back in 2007, the West has not missed any opportunity to attack Vladimir Putin. Five years ago Putin verbally signaled to the West that Russia was back on the international stage as a major political player and as the long-awaited balancing power the global community desperately needed. Four years ago, Moscow crushed the Western-backed Georgian military to make its point perfectly clear. And this year Putin is back to finish some unfinished business.
